On the record
Slavery is maintained by you whom it impoverishes and degrades, not by those upon whom it confers wealth and influence.
Said by
Lewis Tappan
Source
gutenberg.orgLewis Tappan: “Slavery is maintained by you whom it impoverishes and degrades, not by those upon whom it confers wealth and influence.”
Editor's note · Context
This statement critiques the economic structure of slavery, emphasizing its detrimental effects on the poor in the South.
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More from Lewis Tappan
You are moreover aware that the great capitalists of the South have their wealth chiefly invested in plantations and slaves, and not as with us in commerce and manufactures.
They are the nobility of the south, and they find it expedient to forget that there are any commoners.
You have lamentable experience, that such is not the case where slaveholders bear rule.
We surely need not detain you with farther details on this head, to convince you what an enormous sacrifice of happiness and prosperity you are offering on the altar of slavery.